Clean Sweep In Nn

Mcneeley Surprises In Hampton

HAMPTON — In a surprising upset, civic activist Linda E. McNeeley won a seat on the City Council Tuesday night, beating incumbent C. Edward Knight III by a margin of more than 700 votes.

Voters returned to office two incumbents - Turner M. Spencer and Vice Mayor T. Melvin Butler - but handed a solid victory to McNeeley, a political maverick who earned more votes than any other candidate except Butler.

McNeeley ran a grassroots campaign and said she spent no more than $5,000, compared with the $10,000 or more spent by each of the three incumbents.

"They got the housewife on City Council," said a jubilant McNeeley, who held a victory party with about 25 supporters at Vancostas restaurant. "Little guys can win, and they don't need $20,000 to do it. If they care, people know."

Knight, who attended a decidedly subdued gathering for the three incumbents at the Sheraton Hotel, maintained a conciliatory tone in accepting his defeat. "I can accept the public's desire to have a new face," said Knight, the only Republican on the seven-member council and a member of the council for eight of the past 10 years.

"Somebody had to be expendable for Linda McNeeley to get elected," he said. "If I'm the guy, so be it."

Knight said he was suprised he didn't carry his own precinct of Booker. "I'm not going to run again ever. Enough is enough."

Butler, 72, a longtime councilman, ran the most organized campaign and raised about $15,000, surpassing all other candidates, according to financial reports filed with the voter registrar.

"I'm not surprised I was the top vote-getter, but I worked hard to make certain that I was," he said.

Butler received 9,302 votes, compared with 8,610 for McNeeley and 8,370 for Spencer. Knight came in fourth with 7,627, according to unofficial election returns.

Only 29.5 percent of all registered voters went to the polls Tuesday in what was described by several election officials as one of the lowest turnouts in recent memory.

The 37-year-old McNeeley is the past president of the Hampton Federation of Civic Leagues and campaigned on a platform to increase citizen par ticipation in city government. She attributed her victory to her pledge to reach out more to neighborhood groups.

"This was a referendum," she said. "They're saying they want somebody who can connect with the people."

McNeeley said she expected no problems working with the council.

"My intention has never been to headhunt," she said. "But what we needed was a change in attitude."

Mayor James L. Eason, who was not a candidate this year, said he doubted McNeely would be bringing an agenda of much change to the council.

"She said really very little about issues during this whole campaign, and she didn't run a negative cmapaign," said Eason. "I think she ran a good campaign, and I congratulate her." Butler attributed McNeeley's win to her emphasis on the environment at a time when the media have given considerable attention to the issue with such recent events as Earth Day.

McNeeley handed out pine seedlings at campaign events and is the founder a small group called Peninsula Wildlife Rescue, which aids injured animals.

Eason said he was disappointed by Knight's defeat, but said the re-election of Butler and Spencer was "an appreciation of the hard work the two of them have done and an endorsement of the direction the city is going."

The three incumbents, while not an official slate, had worked closely together in the officially nonpartisan race.

Two years ago, all five in cumbents won re-election with solid margins.